From Everywhere to Everywhere

Phillip and Grace Maiyo

Ghana | September 10

Narrator: Missionaries don’t come from just one country or even one continent. They come from everywhere and go everywhere. Like a giant spiderweb, God’s servants criss-cross the world taking their talents and education where they are needed the most.

Dr. Phillip and Grace Maiyo [MAY-yoh] are from Kenya, in eastern Africa. They’ve been called to serve at Valley View University in western Africa. Dr. Maiyo is the university’s information technology director and teaches business and computer science. Grace teaches health and nutrition. The couple has three children who are studying in the Philippines and in Kenya.

Grace, please tell us a bit about what brought you to this place in your life.

Grace: I didn’t grow up Adventist. Then I met two sisters in school who were Adventists. They talked about God and showed me in the Bible that the Sabbath is God’s plan. I became interested and wanted to attend their church. But there was no Adventist church in our little town, so I joined them for worship on Sabbaths in their home.

When I quit attending Sunday School some people were angry. But one family wanted to know why I had left. I explained the Sabbath to them and gave them the Bible verses I had learned. In time they joined the Adventist Church. These were my first converts, and I became excited about sharing my faith with others.

Phillip is a lifelong Adventist. We married and went to college. We had no idea how God would use our skills, but we trusted His leading.

Phillip: We’ve served God at Valley View University for six years now. We both teach, and we both have several other assignments that keep us really busy. But we make time to minister to those on campus as well. Lots of students have personal or financial problems. We can’t solve all their problems, but we can listen and pray with them. We want them to know that we care and that God cares. We see each student as our mission field.

Our work at Valley View has many facets. Grace teaches health and nutrition classes. Then she takes her students into the communities to teach the local people. In this way the students are learning to serve God and improve people’s lives through better health and nutrition. Grace even gets the church elders to go with her to translate and facilitate health demonstrations. She has done so many things to increase awareness of the importance of health and nutrition in our lives.

Grace: Besides teaching computer and business courses, Phillip is busy managing the computer services at the school. That’s a huge challenge, for some of the equipment is old, and our Internet is quite limited for a school of more than 3,000 students. But he’s doing the best he can to help the university grow through technology in ways they’re just beginning to understand.

Phillip has installed the fiber-optic system and the Internet for the school. He and his team are developing software for the school’s academic programs, and he’s leading a team to set up online classrooms and training teachers how to use these systems. We are doing all we can to help bring the university into the twenty-first century. He’s saved the university thousands of dollars by overseeing much of the work himself. It keeps him busy, but that’s our ministry.

We also have a radio studio on campus, and Phillip makes presentations for broadcasts.

Phillip: Missionaries are used to working hard, and sometimes we are overwhelmed with the work that presents itself to us. It’s important work, and it advances the university and its ministry. I’m so occupied with keeping the computer systems running and with teaching faculty members how to use the systems that I seldom get outside the campus to minister in the community. So I focus my ministry on helping others make the most of their ministries.

When we finished our education, we weren’t sure what the Lord wanted us to do. But He has led us to serve Him here at Valley View University. My parents dedicated me to God as a child, and God has used me to serve Him in unexpected ways.

Narrator: Your mission offerings help support missionaries who come from everywhere and go everywhere. Teachers, medical professionals, administrators, and frontline workers benefit from the mission offerings you give every week in Sabbath School. Thank you and God bless you as you continue to give so that others may go. ⎭